Our second series during Orientation is called "Bi-Partisan Dorm Reviews." The series seeks to show both the pros and cons of living in whatever residence hall that you (hopefully) chose. For non-freshman housing, we did reviews of many upperclassmen buildings during the Housing Lottery, which you can see here. Third up is the Barnard Quad. As always, feel free to add your own pros and cons in the comments.

The strong, beautiful first-years of Barnard live on a bucolic quad on 116th and Broadway. A sorting hat determines which of three halls students will occupy: Sulzberger, Reid, and Brooks. There's also some nebulous half-hall called Sulz/Reid. All rooms are doubles or triples.

PROS:

• Brooks has fancy, non-working fireplaces and "walk-through doubles," the latter of which optimize privacy and the illusion of having a single.
• Quick elevator ride to most Barnard gym classes and the Hewitt cafeteria, which is generally acknowledged to be superior to John Jay.
  
• Half a block to the 116th subway, and even less than that when the gate at 116th street is actually left open.
  
• Proximity to all the cupcake-based frivolity that's the basis of most of Barnard's spring celebrations.
  
• Tunnel access through the dorms and to most of Barnard's academic buildings means never having to see the light of day
  
• The bathrooms are usually cleaner than Columbia's first-year counterparts
  
• No boys
  
  (Read more...)

Our second series during Orientation is called "Bi-Partisan Dorm Reviews." The series seeks to show both the pros and cons of living in whatever residence hall that you (hopefully) chose. For non-freshman housing, we did reviews of many upperclassmen buildings during the Housing Lottery, which you can see here. Second up is Carman. As always, feel free to add your own pros and cons in the comments.

Carman is the imposing hunk of concrete that sticks out of 114th and Broadway. Made up of suite-style two-room doubles, the dorm serves as a perfect factory of freshman for frat row. Every tour guide will tell you that "Carman is the social dorm!" which really just means residents don't mind falling asleep to the smell of weed. Read on for more evidence of the double-edged sword that is Carman.

PROS:

• The cleanliness and solitude of your personal bathroom. Hallway toilets will never compare.
• Four-person suites make for instant, sometimes mandatory friendships.
• Dorm parties every weekend (another floormate arranged a personal beer-pong table with nothing but his wits and an old slab of cardboard).
  
• Sexiling opportunities are boundless
• Couch wars!: Raiding other floors and stealing furniture as revenge for getting your remote stolen has become a yearly tradition.
• Cool security guard Mike who enlightens freshies on self-promotion while selling you his jazz CD if he thinks he can trust you.
• A minute's distance from the subway as well as the behemoth of social encounters and frozen yogurt that is Lerner.
• Seemingly cooler RAs than usual (ours used condoms and lube for our icebreaker... though he did later call campus security for one of our parties and was hence considered an asshole).

Our second series during Orientation is called "Bi-Partisan Dorm Reviews." The series seeks to show both the pros and cons of living in whatever residence hall that you (hopefully) chose. For non-freshman housing, we did reviews of many upperclassmen buildings during the Housing Lottery, which you can see here. First up is John Jay. As always, feel free to add your own pros and cons in the comments.

John Jay is one of the two all-freshmen dorms, with just over 400 rooms. 90% of those are single rooms (of 110-120 sq. ft.), a stat that stands in stark contrast to freshman housing at most other schools. It's this heavily-single setup that determines most of both the upsides and downsides of life in John Jay.

PROS:

• The single gives you privacy that few other college freshmen have. You'll come to appreciate that privacy.
• No need to ask your (randomly assigned) roomate to let you study.
  
• The presence of the main dining hall and JJ's within the building lets you walk to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night meals in flip flops. Even in January.
• The prevalence of singles facilitates hall interaction, which many John Jay residents maintain makes floor friendships easier.
• The proximity to Hamilton (where almost all the Core classes are) allows quick trips to class. Bwog's done it in three minutes.
  
• The roof of John Jay gives a fantastic view, though it has no railing whatsoever.
• You might get a floor lounge with a relatively new TV and a foosball table.
• The security desk has a very high wall, making it easy to bring anything in.
  
• The John Jay lounge is a great quiet place to study (and gets wifi).
  (Read more...)

This morning, the rest of 2012 has arrived on campus to be greeted by happy NSOP leaders and their first Columbia challenge: move-in lines. Reports from campus indicate that the lines are manageable, though. Free food mavens, be aware: the family lunch is starting right about now, allowing you to test the efficacy of NSOP security (we'd love to hear your test results).

Finally, with the first day of Orientation also comes our first "Overheard" of the year, courtesy of a B&W staffer:

At the elevator, with a bin of stuff, a male Orientation Leader is seen talking to a first year's proud mother while the student is off picking up her keys and NSOP paraphernalia.

Mother: So what are you studying?
OL: I'm in the Engineering School, but I haven't picked a major yet. Probably Computer Science. What does your daughter want to study?
Mother: [Sighs] I don't know. She was chosen as a John Jay Scholar. She's good at almost everything.

More exciting Action Shots after the jump.

Bwogger Sara Vogel points us in the direction of the Housing website, where there is a list of all summer dorm renovations. "We cannot guarantee projects or timing," it warns. Anyway, we are excited!

• Three lucky apartments in Woodbridge (right) are getting an environmentally-conscious makeover, complete with Energy Star appliances and lighting and Forest Stewardship Council-certified furniture and flooring. 

• McBain's getting a new elevator and it -- along with the existing elevator -- is going to be remodeled after the "sleek" new elevators in Hartley.

• Oh, and remember last summer when the north side of Ruggles was renovated? Kind of? Oh good, because the south side is currently undergoing the same renovations "to replicate the same look and feel as the rest of the building."
  (Read more...)

In response to a goofy mix-up in which five thousand of your names and social security numbers were posted on the Internet for 16 months, one student wishing to remain anonymous has posted a statement of disapproval/demand for change on Petition Online.

Students bothered by the incident (we hear there may be a few of you) are encouraged to sign the petition, which will later be emailed to Scott Wright, he of yesterday's fateful email, Elizabeth J. Keefer (CU General Counsel), and Joseph A. Ienuso (Executive VP, Facilities).

One recent grad forwarded Bwog the following email, which contains some bad news for the unluckiest 5,000 of you. Apparently, housing information that included names and social security numbers was accidentally posted online by a former student employee in February 2007.

Housing & Dining is very sorry, and has even bought you and your probably-stolen social security numbers an apology gift to make it up to you: "As an additional precaution, Columbia has arranged for you to receive a free two-year subscription to a credit monitoring service, Identity Guard CreditProtectX3SM. This service will provide you with a copy of your credit report, monitor your credit files at all three major credit bureaus and notify you of certain suspicious activities that could indicate identity theft."

Full email after the jump.

UPDATE 11:32 PM: One Bwog operative calling himself "Person who's SSN was exposed" has located via Google cache the Excel document that used to contain the SSNs and names in question. According to the aforementioned operative, the Excel document was created apparently in relation to "a HW for CS4733, aka 'Computational Aspects of Robotics.'" Also, the Spec has published the story.

UPDATE 11:11 AM: A Bwog writer and SSN victim just called Student Services and the email is not, in fact, a scam. Sorry folks.

4:27 PM: No walk-through doubles in Nussbaum remain. Only 1 seven-person suite in Claremont left.

Now Playing: "Gone," N*SYNC (just like those walk-through Nussbaum doubles!)

4:20 PM: (see whiteboard above for up-to-date breakdown of what's left)

4:04 PM: The day is winding down, and only 2 seven-person suites in Claremont remain.

3:59 PM: "Karma Police" has been played two times in a row and counting...

3:24 PM: No McBain walk-through doubles reamin.

3:06 PM: Au revoir, Watt. The last studio double just went.

2:58 PM: Just 5 seven-person suites in 47 Claremont remain.

Update 1:32 PM: As prospective first-years have long, overwrought conversations about the Core at Low Steps, a spectacle proceeds, ignorant to them, in John Jay Lounge, one that will shake the very bedrock of the school -- Day Three of suite selection. Plus the board hasn't been updated in, like, half an hour. Here's what's left for the underclassmen:

Old updates after the jump.

Nostalgic for the suites you never even had a chance of getting anyway? Reminisce with the morning's liveBwog.

1:42 PM:

Housing has returned from lunch and suite selection has picked back up. The white board (as is far too often the case) remains the same, save for a penciled in noticed that there are 11 one bedrooms remaining on the D line in Watt.

Bwog slipped behind the screens and noticed that the most desirable line in Woodbridge, the coveted H line, is gone on all floors except the first. (Which makes sense, given Riverside's less-than-stellar track-record for late-night crime.) On the 7th floor, I, J, and C were taken, as rising seniors quickly snatched up the top floor and its views.

Now Playing: Silen—nevermind. The iPod has returned with "At Last," by Etta James.

1:50 PM:

The last 4-person EC suite has been taken.

1:57 PM:

A friendly suite-selector just tipped Bwog off to what she's calling a "little known secret." Apparently, living on the first floor of Woodbridge is a good thing. "My boyfriend lived there, and the ceilings are like 25 ft. and the rooms look huge." Bwog is making no claims to the veracity of any of this.

Now Playing: Michael Jackson, "Billie Jean"

The day of reckoning has arrived, and Bwog will be stationed on a beanbag chair in John Jay, livebwogging your fate. Check back to this post throughout the day today, with frequent updates of what suites are still in your grasp.

11:04 AM:

While individual lottery numbers have been available through the "housing portal" since this morning, the full list is now posted on the main housing website, by name and by number.

Bwog is pleased to announce the winner, one Brian Oches, a rising senior, with 8. And, in last place, freshman Stephen Chao, with a brutal-looking 2999.

Have fun analyzing your chances, and finding your friends to envy and pity.

In case you haven't already been frantically GChatted by friends, you should know your housing lottery number is now available. What isn't available, despite the Housing site's promises to the contrary, is everybody else's. Begin frantically scrambling to figure out how many people will pick EC suites before you... now!

Update: "Daniel", on the housing board, claims numbers will be up Tuesday. He does not, however, work for housing, so Bwog isn't holding our breath. It's almost as if... they didn't plan for this? Nah.

Everyone's favorite artificial deus ex machina of friendships, the Housing Lottery, is almost upon us! Usually an occasion for last minute research, Bwog will be running a series of posts on all Columbia dorms, including a feature on why it's smarter to live with Barnard girls, and a point-counterpoint on living off-campus. This way, when your 5th suite member decides to move off-campus with her boyfriend of 3 months, you'll be so well-versed in Columbia real-estate you'll be able to confidently greet your new 4 person suite in Ruggles. Today: Wien.

Wien:

Wien residence hall, flanked by Jerome Greene Hall and the palatial confines of Casa PrezBo, doesn't seem so bad at first glance. "It's not that bad," you might even suggest. However, you will soon learn that it is, actually, quite bad. Those 300 plus god-forsaken souls assigned to Wien each year know full well that it surely lives up to its dastardly reputation day in and day out. Its cold, white walls, awkwardly placed hall clock that never seems to have the correct time, and the remains of the Wien Food Court, soon to be office for Alice!, will greet you with a pervading sense of eeriness and doom. Feel free to stop by the consistently vacant lounge that seems to be good only for the occasional Chowdah performance or whittle away at the computers in the second floor computer lounge, but never expect to be able to print a single document on the flimsy NINJA printer so kindly set up by CUIT. Upon passing the guard, you enter the world of Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As the bright white lights shine down on your head, Wien's awkward hallway entrance doors, added touch of chicken wire on its windows, and long corridors are sure to make you squeamish.Yet, you still might wonder what gives Wien a cozy institutional establishment? Perhaps it is the 86 square foot singles with toilets placed in the far corner of the room that allow for only two inches of movement between your desk and the bed.

Registration for the Columbia housing lottery doesn't begin until March 11 (or March 3, if you're an LLC weirdo), but to warm up for the event Housing Services will be giving room information sessions and building tours today and tomorrow that will start in the John Jay Lounge. They will be leaving on the half hour from 4 to 8 today and from noon to 4 tomorrow.

You've probably all stumbled into Club EC during a weekend bender, but now's your change to see less-frequented dorms: Claremont, Watt, River. Seize the opportunity to covet the rooms you probably won't be getting when lottery time rolls around.